1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a three-dimensional puzzle comprising a box-like casing and a number of game pieces that are freely movable relative to each other within a closed system defined by the casing. The game pieces are, at least partially, marked and thus, are distinguishable from each other.
2. Description of the Related Art Three-dimensional logical toys comprising movable game elements or pieces that are marked, are provided with symbols, or are differently coloured, and as a result, are at least partially distinguishable from each other, have been known. In the known logical toys or puzzles, the game elements or pieces are movable, one by one or even groupwise, along courses of motion that are defined by a closed system of guide tracks. When playing with such logical toys or puzzles, an initial pre-determined characteristic pattern of the game pieces is first mixed up by moving the game pieces into various different positions along paths allowed by the system of guide tracks. After the initial characteristic pattern is mixed up, the player tries to bring the game pieces back into their initial characteristic pattern or into positions in which the game pieces show other, different pre-determined characteristic patterns through a sequence of steps. The efforts of the player are considered successful if the pre-determined characteristic pattern(s) of the game pieces are realized, or arrived at, by performing the shortest possible sequence of operational steps. In other words, satisfaction and success are achieved by finding, out of a large number of possible combinations, the simplest and thus, less time-consuming consuming sequence of steps or solution leading to certain pre-determined characteristic patterns of the puzzle.
The three-dimensional puzzle according to the present invention belongs to the wide range of spatial logical toys of the kind referred to above.